Kirsten Braman, reading teacher at Stratford Landing Elementary School, has been named the Greater Washington Reading Council (GWRC) Teacher on the Year in Alexandria, Virginia.

Her experiences in both Missouri schools and in Fairfax County Public Schools with elementary students and middle school students reflect her belief in the importance of balanced literacy programs with utilization of the Developmental Reading Assessments.

Braman's principal shared, "Her energy and enthusiasm for making a difference in the lives of children through improving quality reading instruction based on best practices and seeking appropriate reading resources has made a significant difference at the school."

Her colleagues see her as an inspiration as she shares her wealth of knowledge to enrich school wide reading instruction. She redesigned and reorganized Stratford's Reading Room, functions as a reading coach modeling lessons in the classroom, and leads several committees to address student achievement.

Her philosophy of reading education can best be summed up in the quote by Edmund Burke, "Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting."

GWRC Elementary Administrator of the Year 2007-2008

Sharon Aldredge, principal at Woodley Hills Elementary School, has been named the Greater Washington Reading Council (GWRC) Elementary Administrator of the Year. Woodley Hills Elementary School is a Fairfax County public school.

Aldredge is praised by members of her staff for challenging students to reach their highest literacy potentials and to become lifelong lovers of reading. To encourage literacy at Woodley Hills, Aldredge consolidated classroom libraries into one well-catalogued book room that is accessible by all instructional staff members and makes it easy for teachers to select books for students with various reading abilities.

With her reading team and classroom teachers, Aldredge personally monitors the reading progress of every Woodley Hills student, ensuring that each student's reading skills are at or above grade level. Aldredge also funded a bilingual library that serves both students and their families, all of whom are welcome to use the library to help improve their English skills. To further support literacy, she encouraged the formation of a spelling study committee whose members visited other schools and gathered data about the most effective ways to teach spelling. Information from that search helped strengthen spelling instruction at Woodley Hills.

With Aldredge's encouragement, students in the primary grades who might be reluctant readers have the opportunity to read aloud to a therapy dog, who is accompanied by his trainer to school. She strongly supports the school's annual Literacy Night, which features storytellers, favorite book characters, and story corners where parents can read with their children. On Read Across America Day, a celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday, students and staff members are encouraged to wear pajamas and spend the entire day reading.

"She models an enthusiasm for learning through her own reading and sharing of literacy research," say reading teachers Mary Kate DeRose, Judi Elmore, and Eric Johnson. "And she celebrates the literacy learning that goes on in our school. She both talks the talk AND walks the walk."

GWRC Secondary Administrator of the Year 2007-2008

Dan Parris, principal at Rocky Run Middle School, has been named the Greater Washington Reading Council (GWRC) Secondary Principal of the Year for 2007-2008.

Parris has a consistent vision for Rocky Run Middle School that includes strong support for literacy initiatives. He provides his staff with professional training for teaching reading, writing, and speaking across the curriculum. He shares professional literature with his teachers and encourages them to discuss current instructional research that supports student achievement. Marzano's strategies, digital literacy, metacognition, Word Walls, deeper reading, and informative assessment are just some of the concepts embraced at RRMS!

Parris advocates for all activities that promote reading by supporting daytime and evening book club meetings, Teachers as Readers, and the Read Across America Day. He has been a catalyst for change in providing funds for the expansion of classroom libraries, the updating of novel sets in the bookroom and in instituting an overall literacy initiative to include school-wide handbooks for reading, writing and speaking across the curriculum. The essential philosophy at RRMS is that all content teachers are responsible for literacy instruction.

Being a catalyst for change has extended to the pyramid and Cluster VII. He began with a meeting of feeder school teachers from elementary and high schools to develop a cohesive set of reading measurements as well as a common language to use to discuss current literacy initiatives. This format spread to a larger literacy articulation cluster meeting held in 2006 and is an ongoing process as exemplified by the SIP (School Improvement Plan) of each school in the cluster.